Christopher Elliott

The most recent Michigan study even found that people think they get better service from the Internal Revenue Service than their airline. The tax collector running an air carrier? Imagine that.

Neglecting customers is nothing new to the travel industry. But what is new are the numbers the travel business — particularly hotels and airlines — is putting on the board this year, despite all that. The U.S. airline industry is expected to earn $4 billion in 2007, its best year since before 9/11, and possibly ever. Hotels will rack up $27.4 billion in profits.

Kind of makes you wonder if one of the most basic rules of business — the one that says good customer service translates into good earnings — is quietly being voided by the travel industry. The answer is yes, and if something isn’t done about this profit paradox, customer service might get much, much worse.

It doesn’t have to. Here are five things you can do right now to stop the customer-service slide:

Don’t reward bad service with your business.
As a consumer advocate, I see a lot of e-mails that end with, “I’LL NEVER FLY ON YOUR AIRLINE AGAIN!” But that’s quickly forgotten the next time travelers are shopping for a flight and find that the cheapest fare is offered by the airline they’ve sworn to never patronize again.

The travel business knows we’re bluffing. If we weren’t, then the airlines with the worst numbers would be flying empty planes (if you’re wondering which carriers those are, here are the latest figures reported by the government ). And the hotels with the worst customer-service records would be getting turned into condos.

It’s time to make good on our promises and boycott the bad travel companies.

Complain about substandard service.
How often have you heard this: A travel industry insider is asked about declining service levels and amenities. To which he says, “For what you paid for your ticket, what did you expect?”

Translation: shut up and be happy. You’re getting what you deserve. But just because travelers ask for lower prices (who wouldn’t?) doesn’t mean they expect awful service. The travel industry’s apologists have made their customers feel guilty for demanding competitive prices and competent service. As a result, many passengers feel shy about complaining.

Instead, they sheepishly accept shoddy service. But if enough travelers felt otherwise, they’d complain. And it would be far more difficult for travel companies to delude themselves into thinking they were doing a good job. (I have a whole section on my Web site that shows you how to file an effective complaint .)